That's beautiful! It looks so professional, and what a lovely pattern! Nice one. :)

I'm cutting out trousers for DS. He likes to go outside in the long grass and get his hems wet, so although he has plenty of trousers he keeps running out. The obvious solution would be to put him in shorts, but DH says it's too cold (query: colder than wandering around with soggy denim up to the knee?), so I'm making 3/4 length pants. Ottobre, as usual. :)

Ooh, is there a pattern pic I can see somewhere? I need to find a good little boy trouser pattern. All the manufactured pants I like for my 4 yo are too big to stay up. I don't want to give him belts because he has issues remembering to go potty before it's an absolute emergency.

Do you know Ottobre? Go here and click on the magazine covers (the pictures of the kids - you'll need to scroll right to get to the more recent ones, for some reason). The pants I'm making now are from issue 3/2006 (so scroll back) - after you click on the picture, click on 'all designs PDF' and it'll show you line drawings of all the designs in the issue. You can click through the whole magazine too, with the proper photos.

I warn you, though, once you get into Ottobre it'll ruin you for all other patterns! The patterns are just SO well-made - beautiful detailing, easy to adapt, with a beautiful fit due to European sizing (by the child's height, or other measurements if applicable, rather than age). I love them. Getting my Ottobres six times a year is the highlight of my life. And the boys' patterns are especially good - lots of different kinds of trousers with cool pockets and topstitching and panels, awesome traditional shirts, cute overalls - stuff that really looks like you could buy it.

*sob* I cut his curls off! I had to - his hair was getting way too long. It reached down to the bottom of his nose when it was wet. But I felt so guilty afterwards! It's still curlyish here and there, but the ringlets are gone. :( It's a bit of a tragedy. Hopefully they'll come back when it grows out a bit. He's still adorable, though. :)

*sob* I cut his curls off! I had to - his hair was getting way too long. It reached down to the bottom of his nose when it was wet. But I felt so guilty afterwards! It's still curlyish here and there, but the ringlets are gone. :( It's a bit of a tragedy. Hopefully they'll come back when it grows out a bit. He's still adorable, though. :)

aww... :(

I put off cutting ds1's baby curls for a long time. His hair is still pretty curly once it grows out, but the texture isn't as soft. It's about time for a hair cut here, his headful of curls is getting pretty unruly. Ds2, on the other hand, still doesn't even have enough hair for a good bathtime mohawk.

I bought one issue of Ottobre Woman during my first pregnancy, because it had a couple of maternity patterns. I never made them up though. I got a bit miffed when I realized most of the patterns were at least a size too big for me. I might have to check out the kids stuff though, good boy stuff is hard to find.

I know! When I found out I was expecting a boy I hit the pattern shops, and there was NOTHING. Just really homemade-looking 'these are so simple!" one-pattern-piece pants, and a few button-down shirts that were poorly drafted and hard to make, plus a few patterns for gender-neutral onesies. Someone from MDC - sewchris, I think - got me onto Ottobre and I never looked back! For boys' clothes they are really unparalleled. In fact I just spent half an hour idly browsing through back issues, coveting some of the cute waistcoat patterns!

I don't like Ottobre Woman very much. I get them, because I have a subscription, and I've used/altered a couple of patterns. But I find they tend to be kinda bland and generic, not BF-friendly, and often skewed towards larger women. Definitely not as useful as the kids' patterns.

I fished my unfinished tiered skirt out of the depths of my crafting closet and now it's done! It's a lot skirt...I was going for sort of a bohemian look, but it's a little more historical underskirt because of it's fullness. I think next time I make a skirt like this, I'm going to make longer tiers, so I can have fewer of them, and only have each tier be 1.5 times the width of the one above, rather than 2 times, as I have here. It's comfy to wear though! It makes me want to make silly dancing poses, so I did :P

I have taken a bit of a hiatus recently due to camping and people visiting. I decided tonight that I am going to try and knit my oldest DS a Dr. Who scarf. He got into the recent Dr. Whos this summer so I think he will like it- my knitting skills are still pretty beginner so we will see what happens.

I finished my shrug/bed jacket thingy. I wanted something to keep my arms warm and breasts free while nursing/cosleeping. I really could have used this last fall, when ds2 was tiny. It'll probably get some good use this fall though.

I have actually had a chance to sew! I spent Saturday making a knit maxi skirt- the pattern was I believe in Sew News. It is one of those convertible dresses. I just like it as a skirt though :) I also made a long sleeve maternity tshirt out of a grey and cream stripe. Turned out a little big so I am shrinking it in the wash before I decide if I want to take it in or wait until I grow... Then today I hemmed a wedding dress- I was way too nervous about it- I ended up using my serger and a rolled hem and it worked absolutely awesome! I have plenty more projects to work on this week and the success has me much more inspired.

Love the shrug Angelorum :)

Mamatowill- you make me hungry!

Iowaorganic- mama to DD (1/5/06), DS1 (4/9/07), DS2 (1/22/09), DS3 (12/10/10), DD2 (7/6/12) and a new kid due in early 2014

Wedding dresses are scary to work on! And I've only done my own. And, hurray for new maternity clothes, Iowa.

So, anybody thinking about Halloween costumes yet? Ds1 says he wants to be a Star Wars guy. He wore a black hooded cloak and carried a light saber last year. The cloak will be too short this year, so I might try to talk him into something else. And then there's ds2. When ds1 was 1 yo, I dressed us both as hobbits, because he had cute baby curls, but ds2 is still too bald to be a hobbit. I'm planning a trip to my parent's house in a couple of weeks, and will be able to hit the chain craft stores for supplies, I just need to get a plan.

Not a great shot of him or the trousies, but they (both) look cute in real life.

Got the newest Ottobre Woman today! It contains three tops I might actually wear. Buttony ones. I went to the fabric shop and got some blue shot taffeta on sale, and looked up wide shoulder pattern adjustments online... maybe I'm ready to venture into the world of grown-up clothes once more!

But first I'll have to prewash and dry the fabric, so I may as well make DS' second pair of trou in the meantime...

Angelorum, you're on a roll! Wow. The shrug and the skirt are both beautiful! It took me a while to grok tiered skirts, but I really like 'em now - have vague intentions to make myself a creamy lacy one.

Also, and this is not super-relevant... the neighbor's dog killed three of our four chickens today. :( They were lovely girls and had just started laying properly for spring, and we were very fond of them. RIP Alegreya, Esther and Wingdings. :(

Halloween is going to bring DS13 a Dr Pepper outfit... consisting of a 'pepper' and a 'dr'. So we need a lab coat and either red or green shirt. and that is it... oh and a very cute name tag that states 'dr pepper'.

Awww, cute trousers on a cute little boy. We are opposite, smokering, I am ashamed to say I almost never sew for kids, it's almost always for me.

And I'm so sorry about your poor chickens :( Is the neighbor going to reimburse you?

So ds1 and I looked at Halloween costume patterns last night. He liked the (way too much trouble) dinosaur costume, and the robot costume a lot. I think we can make a robot costume out of some paint and cardboard and things, that will be cheaper and easier than sewing. Maybe I'll sew him some silver lame` pants to wear underneath or something. Ds2 could be a robot too, as long as we can make his costume comfortable enough that he won't just want to rip it off. What is it with all the baby costumes being so ridiculous and bulky?

Angelorum, don't be ashamed of sewing for yourself! It makes more sense, in a way - adult clothes are usually more expensive than kids' clothes, and in my experience they tend to be harder to fit. (As an adult I have a long torso, short legs, long arms, broad shoulders, a small bust and a zillion other structural quirks that make clothes-shopping hellish... as a kid, I fit into pretty much anything. Weird, when you think about it.) Plus, it's much easier to get hand-me-downs for kids' stuff. And most adults have a stronger sense of fashion/modesty/situational appropriateness/seasonality/outfit combining/whatever than kids, which can lead to more specific wardrobe requirements.

The only reason I sew for the kids and not me is fear, really. Well, that and the fact that the kids grow and I don't, so they need more clothes. :p I just find the thought of cutting into three metres of fabric WAY scarier than making a tiny pair of trousers which, even if they're a disaster, have only wasted half a metre (or better yet, the remains of an old pair of adult jeans!)

Also, my kids don't worry about the possibility of looking daggy in homemade clothes, and I do. :p I should really get over that, as I frequently and happily look daggy in op-shop clothes... but the mental block remains.

Nearly finished DS' second pair of trousers, and then I will attack The Shirt.

ETA: Yeah, the neighbor said she'd pay for replacement chickens. Which is good, but it's not really the point - we loved those chickens. They were sweet and fluffy and pleasing. And the current chickens for sale online are just boring Hylines and shavers; I don't know when we'll next see Orpingtons and Rhode Island Reds for sale.

That's exactly it, kid clothes seem so easy to come by for free, or really cheap. I do think I'm going to have to break down and sew up some nice corduroy trousers for church though. Those do seem to be hard to find in stores, all the boy pants tend to have casual looking carpenter pockets and/or zippers and buttons. Ds1 is getting dextrous enough to do up his own fly finally, but there were a couple of years when he was just too young, and I wanted him to be able to go potty at home without needing help.

43/52: Second pair of DS' trousers. Same pattern without the leg panels in a lightweight grey something-or-other that frays like you wouldn't believe. They came out nicely. So that's done. :)

Ottobre has lots of lovely church-appropriate boys' pants, as well as casual cargo pants and the like. :) Cute little waistcoats and button-up shirts, too!

I took many deep breaths and altered the Ottobre shirt pattern for myself today. Made the shoulders wider and the torso longer. According to my hasty muslin, it FITS! I am ecstatic. I think I'd better laminate the pattern before something terrible happens to it - I've never made a bodice that fit before! This particular pattern is has short puffed sleeves, a sweet little rounded collar with a stand, and a peplum; but you can make it longer and peplumless, and swap out the sleeves for two other patterns in the book. I ironed some nice pale beige broadcloth for my first attempt - I think I'll make it longer but keep the short sleeves. Might save the peplum for the taffeta version, although I'm not entirely sure about it... what do we think of peplums, people?

Meh, I'm kind of on the fence about peplums. I avoid peplum styles lately, because I tend to wear a lot of a-line or fuller skirts, and you just can't do a peplum over a fuller skirt. I do think they can work for people though, just not me usually.

Congrats on your fitting muslin! When I want a pattern to last a long time, or if I need to reinforce a well used one, I fuse cheap lightweight interfacing to it. Quick and easy, and I always have some on hand!

I made a new nightgown! It was sort of an experiment with using elastic thread instead of making casings for wider elastic. It went together so fast! I did all the gathering with the elastic thread in the bobbin, after hemming the edges. I ended up having to rip out the gathers on the sleeves and make a quick casing with bias tape, because the elastic thread was too tight when I lifted my arm up to put under my head while side-lie nursing. Next time, I'll make the sleeve a little wider so I don't have to mess with the casing. The fabric is a cotton seersucker leftover from my very first wearable sewing project! My mom found it when she was cleaning out a closet and sent it to me. I had 1 full yard plus some large-ish scraps. I had to make the skirt a little narrower than I wanted because of lack of fabric, but it's not too bad. Overall, I love it. I don't feel quite so boorish lazing about in my pajamas when they are actually cute :D

Cute nightie! Shirring is great. I've made DD a fair few shirts with wrists gathered into casings (or worse, knits gathered with elastic tape and bound), and shirring a few rows is SO much less hassle.

I just had the brilliant idea of adding a peplum to the muslin so I can see what it looks like. Genius, that's me. I'll be interested to see how it looks - I've tried peplum tops on and they always looked boxy and unflattering, but that might have been because the tops were too short for my freakishly long torso. I agree that peplums and full skirts are a bad combination, but they might look cute with jeans... but then, I don't wear jeans that often. And I like to wear my button-up shirts under pinafores, and the peplum would spoil the line. Ehhh... we'll see. Cutting out the pattern now. :)

I love peplums. One of my favorite outfits for church is a cute pink sheer top with a peplum and a super dark denim pencil skirt. I also love the nightie Angelorum. I need to work on making or at the very least buying some pjs or nighties or something. What I have is embarrassingly awful.

Iowaorganic- mama to DD (1/5/06), DS1 (4/9/07), DS2 (1/22/09), DS3 (12/10/10), DD2 (7/6/12) and a new kid due in early 2014

I'm making myself Shirt Number Two. Shirt Number 1 is all done except the buttonholes and buttons - got the buttons today in town. Very exciting.

Also, I need some ideas. In a few weeks a friend of mine is having a Film Noir party, and wants us to come in costume. I'm not hugely up on film noir, but I want to make myself a dress. Can anyone think of a good one? Even a screencap would be useful; I could maybe adapt something to go with it. One of my vintagey Butterick patterns might be OK, but I'm a bit nervy about altering the dolman sleeves for wide shoulders. I'm assuming it's possible, it just seems... hard.

I have a small bust, so can't pull off anything too vampy; and I can't wear black or I'd look like I was dressed for a goth party, not a film noir one. :p Other than that, any and all suggestions welcome!

Also, any ideas for DH? I'm not about to construct him an entire suit, but I could maybe manage a waistcoat, or a... heck, I don't really know what film noir gentlemen wear. I could make him a plush cigar? :p I think he has a fedora kicking around somewhere...